7 ms·
This is one of my favourite anecdotes from that book. In recent decades, we've learned how important intrinsic motivation is, and this is a great example of it.
by chris_j 5y ago
This is one of my favourite anecdotes from that book. In recent decades, we've learned how important intrinsic motivation is, and this is a great example of it.
My father was a massive fan of Richard Feynman and also happened to be extremely cynical about formal education. He believed that if you wanted to learn something, you had to take the initiative and learn it for yourself, rather than waiting for the education system to suck the enthusiasm for the subject out of you. It was only after Dad died that I picked up his copy of Surely You're Joking Feynman and learned where he got a lot of his ideas from.
- _ph_ 5y agoI think you need both. Formal education is great for "basic skills". Most people won't invent calculus on their own. Most of us learn reading and writing in a formal way. But equally, formal education is only half of what is needed to be good in a field of work. Then there comes the experimentation, the practise. All the knowledge that can't really be taught by a book. Sometimes a good teacher or mentor can help on that side, but real excellence comes through your own tinkering. The anecdote of Feynman shows this actually well. He gained a lot of knowledge and inspiration for other problems solutions by working out the motion of the plate. But he did so by using the calculus and tools of theoretical mechanics. Those were what enabled him to do the theoretical description which then yielded the insights.
- chris_j 5y agoWise words. I'm sure most of us would never have learned all the of the basics of mathematics on our own. Though I do remember Feynman claiming in the book that he'd come up with certain trigonometric concepts on his own and then had to un-learn the names that he'd created for them and learn to call them sin, cos etc. That was pretty mind-blowing. I suppose the question for me is: how do you find the right balance between formal learning and the self-directed learning, experimentation and practice?
- Tyr42 5y agoI think he was fed up with the notations, and made his own, rather than coming up with trig from scratch.
- Trex_Egg 5y agoWise as Wisdom
- ip26 5y agoIn different terms, we’ve all heard If I have seen far, it is only because I stood on the shoulders of giants. Those who came before give you a leg up so you can work on the next problem. There aren’t enough years in a life to develop particle physics by yourself, completely from scratch.